The Adventures of the Immortal Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III
by theanonymouslibrarians
Summary: After a gift from Toothless, Hiccup realizes that he and his dragon will have much more time together than he'd originally thought.


A Gift

By theanonymouslibrarians

Note: I do not own the How to Train Your Dragon series or any of its characters. The image of poor Toothless living on and on without Hiccup was depressing, so I kinda fixed it. Now they'll be other problems, but it's fanfic so you can choose whether or not you accept this version of events.

'It won't be long now.' Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III thought, as he lay in bed, staring up at the ceiling.

He didn't mind. He had had a long life, and if not all of it had been happy, enough of it had been to make it worth living. He had begun life as the scrawny son of a chief, uncertain that he would become Chief of the Hairy Hooligans or if he would be killed before he reached the age of 20. Now, he was 94, and was King of the Wilderwest. He had brought peace to the viking tribes. He had married the woman he loved and had had beautiful children with her. He'd had the chance to watch his grandchildren be born and grow. He had lived a good life, he thought, and if it was over...well, death happened to everyone eventually. Hiccup himself had dodged it several times, but he couldn't do so forever.

There was a swoosh of wings, and Hiccup grinned broadly as a small green dragon flew into the room. Toothless had been away for over two weeks this time. Hiccup knew that the little dragon would never leave him for good, but the viking had been afraid that this time Toothless wouldn't return before...

"M-m-master?" Toothless's voice held a note of worry.

Hiccup had noticed it there every time Toothless had come to him in the past year. The normally carefree dragon knew that Hiccup wasn't doing well. Hiccup tried to sit up a bit straighter, but only managed to shift a bit. "Hello, Toothless. Where have you been this time?"

"A-america."

"America! That must have been interesting. Tell me all about it."

"T-toothless went to a s-strange place where it was h-h-hot all the time, and s-s-strange w-water dragons that didn't s-speak D-d-dragonese tried to eat p-poor Toothless!"

"Did they? That must have been terrifying!"

"Y-y-yes. But T-toothles was b-brave and n-n-noble and went deep into the f-f-forest and f-found medicine to m-make Hiccup better."

"Oh?"

Toothless nodded and, very gingerly, placed something on the table next to Hiccup's bed. Peering at it, Hiccup saw that it was a shell filled with some kind of liquid. "G-go on!" Toothless urged. "D-d-drink it!"

Hiccup smiled at the dragon, trying to keep the sorrow out of it. Twenty years ago, Hiccup would have considered the possibility that this was some type of prank and that when he drank the liquid it would be something bitter and Toothless would laugh as Hiccup spat it out. Not now, though. He could tell by the eager anticipation on Toothless' face that the little dragon truly believed that this medicine would make Hiccup well again. Hiccup didn't have the heart to tell him that there was no cure for old age. Instead, Hiccup picked up the shell and emptied the liquid into his mouth.

Hiccup had been prepared to put on a brave face and say something along the lines of, "Thank you, Toothless! I feel better already!"

The thing was, though...he really _did_ feel better. Despite being carried thousands of miles, the liquid was warm and had a sweet, familiar flavor that Hiccup couldn't quite place but thought he had tasted when he was younger. It ran down Hiccup's throat and he could feel it in his stomach, a pleasant, warm feeling that gave him energy. And then, there was a tingling that seemed to run all over him.

"Toothless..." Hiccup began, but the little dragon was darting all around the room with a ridiculously proud look on his face.

"I-it worked! I-it worked! T-t-toothless saved Hiccup! T-t-toothless the b-best dragon ever! COCK-A-DOODLE-DO!"

Suddenly, Hiccup felt as if he could get out of bed and run a mile if he had to. "Toothless, what...what's happening?"

"H-hiccup is a-all better and he w-w-won't need to leave p-p-poor Toothless all alone!" Toothless crowed.

Hesitantly, Hiccup swung his legs out of bed. Grabbing for a cane he kept next to his bed, he slowly rose to his feet. But he hardly felt like he needed the cane. His hand didn't tremble. His legs didn't shake. His hand...Looking down at it grasping the cane, Hiccup could see that all the wrinkles and liver spots that had graced it in recent decades were gone. As fact it was as smooth as it had been when he was 20!

Hiccup let the cane drop and darted to an old chest of his. He kept keepsakes in there and he fumbled around in it until he found an old shield, still kept polished. Peering into its depths, Hiccup could see a younger version of himself peering back at him. There was a _swoosh_! and Toothless perched on his shoulder, his rather full-of-himself reflection joining Hiccup's.

"S-s-see! H-h-hiccup all better!"

"Toothless..." Hiccup whispered. "What was in that shell?"

"W-w-water! W-water from a f-f-fountain."

"What type of fountain?"

"D-d-dragons in Fl-florida called it the F-f-fountain of Youth!"


End file.
